Lighting and Cameras Palettes

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Main toolbar > Tool Palettes button > Incandescent tab

Main toolbar > Tool Palettes button > Fluorescent tab

Main toolbar > Tool Palettes button > Low-Pressure Sodium tab

Main toolbar > Tool Palettes button > High Intensity Discharge tab

Main toolbar > Tool Palettes button > Cameras tab

The Lighting and Cameras palettes are populated by tools that are classified as macro tools. These types of tools rely on MAXScript programming for setting the characteristics of light sources, like light type and brightness, or cameras, such as camera type and field of view.

The lighting palettes containing tools of this type are:

Note: There are also two luminaire palettes that can be considered lighting palettes, but the tools found on them are built differently and are described in Studio and Luminaire Palettes.

The Cameras palette provides access to two camera tools: free camera and target camera.

Incandescent Palette

The Incandescent palette contains nine photometric lights that have preset configurations. All nine lights are free point lights that are preset with Isotropic Light Distribution.

If you know the height at which an incandescent light needs to be placed in the scene, you can set the height along the Z axis through the Customize Heights dialog.

The Incandescent palette contains preset generic lights set to an incandescent color and halogen lights set to a halogen color.

When you drag an incandescent tool into the scene, you have the option to specify the Z height of the light before you place it. The Customize Heights dialog is accessible from the right-click menu of each camera.

Fluorescent Palette

The Fluorescent palette contains free point and linear light tools that are often used in scenes that simulate an office or other commercial setting.

Low-Pressure Sodium Palette

The Low-Pressure Sodium palette contains light tools or LPS tools that are photometric free lights. LPS lights are primarily used in scenes that require lighting for parking lots, roadways, tunnels, and industrial settings.

High Intensity Discharge Palette

The High Intensity Discharge palette contains lights tools or HID tools useful for lighting scenes that require street or parking lot floodlighting, or scenes that simulate industrial or commercial settings, gymnasiums and rooms with high ceilings, as well as retail merchandise displays.

Cameras Palette

The Cameras palette contains two types of cameras: free and target.

The default parameters set for a free camera or target camera when dragged from the Cameras palette are the same as the creation parameters used when these cameras are added to the scene from the Create panel.

If you drag a camera into the scene from the Cameras palette, you have the option to specify the Z height of the camera before you place it. The Customize Heights dialog is accessible from the right-click menu of each camera.

Procedures

To add a lighting fixture into a scene:

You can add a lighting fixture using one of four methods:

Drag the luminaire tool from the palette and drop it into a viewport.
CTRL+drag and select File Open to create a luminaire into a new scene.
CTRL+drag and select Merge File to merge a luminaire into an existing scene.
CTRL+drag and select Xref File to xref a luminaire into an existing scene.

To create an incandescent light in a scene:

Select the incandescent tool you want, then drag and click to place in the viewport .
Continue clicking in the viewport to place additional lights in the scene or right-click or press ESCAPE to end.

Once you ended the command, you can make changes to the lights' parameters on the Modify panel.

To create a camera in a scene:

Select the camera tool you want, and click the viewport location where you want the camera to be.

The kind of viewport you click determines the free camera's initial direction.

Set the creation parameters.
Right-click in a viewport to end the command.
Rotate and move the camera to adjust the point of view.
Change the viewport to a Camera viewport.

To set the Z height of an incandescent light or camera:

When you set a Z height for an incandescent light or camera, it applies to all the tools on the Incandescent, Fluorescent, Low-Pressure Sodium, High Intensity Discharge, and Cameras palettes.

Right-click on a light or camera tool and select Active Height.
Select a preset height from the flyout list. To specify a custom height, see Customize Heights Dialog.